Reflected Arcade
by The95will
Summary: 'Just here to spend some alone time.' A young Jaune thought to himself. One shot.
"ARGH, GUH, OW!" A darkened role flashed with continuous streams of light. The walls were of a light ominous bluish hue and had several darkened or lighter patches of rectangular shapes. A child by the name of Jaune stared directly into the light that emanated from one machine in particular.

"HYPER COMBO FINISH!" The machine screamed out in overhyped joy to answer the call of the one who could play the machine.

Jaune was a young kid. He watched from the screen with his black and red framed glasses and with a glum expression. He wasn't the most appealing person in the area. He was moderate in height but clearly had a stomach stick out so he appeared to be more circular than tall. The child of twelve reached into his pocket to feel for the last of the coins which twirl about in his fingertips.

He looked around to see if there could be anyone else in the immediate area. All of the machines continued to play noise and happy tunes for a vacant room.

The neon streams of lights that hung off the walls flickered about in orange and green. Jaune sighed then took a deep breath and inhaled through his nose. The air was fresh. Jaune remembered that an employee by the name of Cameron would use air freshener in the area before he could go home at night.

The Mall's Arcade emanated more life and color than most of the bare bones mall.

"Okay." Jaune smiled as he reached into his pocket for a duo of quarters.

 _ZING DING!_ A machine chimed.

"Ready?" The arcade machine asked with a woman's voice as the speakers played some excited trumpets and funky tunes. "I'm going to take you for a ride." The machine played on in an almost endless repeat.

Jaune smiled as he used his left hand to move the joystick all over the screen. The machine beeped every time he did so. It was a fighting game, one where one player must beat the other with various characters to _knock out_ the opponent. Every player was allowed to select three characters for a team.

Jaune knew by heart on the three that mattered to him most. He chose them and the machine patronized his team selection matter what he chose.

"Get ready!" The screen plastered huge text over the screen. "Engage!"

The characters moved all over the screen as a bass guitar sped up in tempo.

Jaune kept his eyes on the screen but also watched his surroundings and he saw a couple walk by but they didn't interact with him. The music sped up even faster.

"DOWN!" The arcade blared as Jaune won his against his first enemy character. Two more to go.

"Keep this going!" Jaune's character jumped up and kicked the enemy. They continued to whale on each other. There were explosions along with heavy sounding punches flying left and right. Jaune jolted the joystick as he smiled when the machine flashed a bright blue light.

"DOWN!" Jaune smiled to himself.

The music continued to blast as Jaune was on the home stretch to win the first round on the arcade. It continued until there was a dreaded _whoosh_ sound.

"HERE COMES A NEW CHALLENGER!" The golden letters of doom flashed on the screen. Jaune mentally cried in agony as he looked to his right. He saw a person twice his age hover over the second player section of the arcade machine. He was about a foot and half taller. He had glasses as well but the frames were green instead. He clearly was fitter than Jaune as he couldn't see a gut on the guy and he had a set of black headphones in his ears.

Something of note is that Jaune noticed that this person had a fedora on his head… It as nice, because there were many times that Jaune wanted to have a fedora of his own. It was black threads with a red ribbon at the base.

Jaune wasn't jealous.

.

.

.

He wasn't.

"I'm going to take you for a ride!" The machine played again as Jaune was forced to see the characters that would spell his demise. Just something about all of this made him look down at his feet.

"What's wrong?" The taller person asked Jaune.

"I'm not that good at this game." Jaune uttered barely over the speakers.

"To tell you the truth… I'm terrible too."

"You're just lying to make me feel better." Jaune whimpered.

"Well, we're about to find out."

From there a set of fingers and constant moving joysticks sounded like a heavy ping pong ball being knocked back and forth.

"DOWN! WOW, THAT'S AWESEOME! KILLER COMBO!"

Jaune and his challenger continued to play each other until the machine shifted it's color to grey.

"TIME UP!... DRAW!" Neither side won the match.

"I told ya kid. I am terrible with this game." Green glasses winked.

"What's your name?" Jaune asked.

"Call me Luna."

"Okay Luna. Do you want to go again?" Jaune slightly raised his shoulders.

"Sure, I'll be sure to win this time." Luna laughed.

"Dream on." Jaune retorted.

From there, Luna and Jaune both made every game they came across a competition. Every game, neither side was the clear winner as they never had the upper hand over each other.

The first game they gave a try was that one that required for the both of them to hold onto artificial guns. One was blue while the other was red. Luna waited for a moment to see which color Jaune want to use. It didn't mean anything at all, it was a two player game neither side had an advantage over the other. Jaune nodded to himself as he walked to the left side to lift up the blue gun. Luna nodded and went to the right side for the red gun.

Luna reached into his pocket and placed some money down and paid for two dollars. Jaune did the same.

 _BEEP BEEP … BEEP BEEP!_ "ACTION!" Orange letters plastered itself over the screen. Like that, both Jaune and Luna raised their guns and fired them off. On every bullet the guns would vibrate slightly. It was a way to show make the guns show recoil.

Jaune squinted at the screen and noticed a red soldier that needed to be capped. He fired seven bullets for it to knock him down and his ammo counter increased on each hit. Jaune wanted to have some finesse, like to be like in the action movies. Be all sly and cool by going for the head shots. So more often than not, Jaune did body shots and Luna smiled.

The game would take a moment to pause for the angle of view to adjust itself for the players to have new enemies to shoot at.

"How did you get here?" Luna asked.

"I walked." Jaune lifted his foot off a pedal so his avatar could take cover behind some crates.

The game echoed more bullets on the screen and every other ten seconds the game would nag the players to- "RELOADRELOAD **RELOAD**!"

"I see."

"How did you get here?" Jaune leaned back and glanced at Luna.

"I used the bus." Luna broke concentration for a moment and then his screen flashed red as it was a sign that he took damage. Luna frowned and shook his head. "I used to be good at this game."

"HA!" Jaune laughed at his expense. "Wild Magician always goes for the shot on the first ten seconds."

"Now you tell me." Luna grimaced as he slightly raised his fedora to have a better view of the screen.

Jaune looked back to the screen as he didn't want to show that he reacted much to the fedora.

"What brought you here?" Luna asked as the two fought the boss of the stage.

"Nothing really." Jaune paused for a moment then allowed himself to get shot.

"You sure?" Luna inquired.

"Mom didn't like how I did the dishes last night." Jaune admitted. "My sisters just talk down to me."

Luna paused as well then nodded. "Did your mom tell you that you're _pathetic_?"

"… Yeah…" Jaune lowered his gun. Even with all that power the game gave to the player, there are still some bullets that could pierce through him that didn't exactly mean he'll bleed from them. Especially if they were emotionally charged bullets.

Red flashed again.

"CONTINUE?!" The screen flashed in white and green.

"5?!"

"4?!"

"3!?"

"2?!"

"1!?"

"GAME OVER!"

Luna lowered his gun and allowed himself to die as well in the game. The game did its usual thing by begging the players to continue the game to stop the big bad guy. Once it ended, the characters lowered their weapons in a defeated state.

"Come on. I think there is one you really need to try." Luna tugged at Jaune' shirt.

"TIME TO GET FUNKY!" A game with loud tunes and music blared. The colors were brighter than any other game in the arcade. It was so powerful, a constant rainbow assaulted the blue hue.

"I don't like racing games." Jaune whined.

"Aw come on. You'll love them." Luna brushed his hand on Jaune' back.

Jaune didn't like it much so he shoved his arm apart for a moment as he looked back down at the floor. The music blared again as the reason why Jaune didn't want to play was because he wanted to save some of his money for the next time he returned to the Arcade.

Before Jaune could protest. Luna already slammed some coins in the machine. "On me." He winked.

Jaune hopped onto the fake seat and pressed the button to play. Jaune chose a car he liked and glance to Luna.

"Ya know. I think it's awesome that you want to be a writer when you grow up."

"Huh?" A confused Jaune tilted his head somewhat.

"Mr. Genova. I think he liked that book report you turned in all those times two years ago. Or Mr. Crane that thought you had a great idea on the concept of trust is easy to break and hard to rebuild. He gave you extra credit for that right?" Jaune shrugged and just Luna continued. "And of course, Mr. Mohalland that gave you the word to describe you as _believe_. Because when you believe, you can make others as well." Luna nodded a bit and his fedora by now slid a bit so it drooped over his eyes.

Jaune chuckled at Luna. "You're a misfit." Jaune pressed the pedal and the car he chose immediately ran into a wall.

"You're not so bad yourself." Luna retorted.

Jaune played some more and won 4th place in the game's tournament. Luna and Jaune started to smile again. When they did, the dim blue lights of the Arcade shifted to gold. Jaune looked at the ceiling to see the glow in the dark star stickers absorb the light they desperately needed.

"Wanna get a soda?" Luna asked.

"I'd love some." Jaune chuckled.

The two young men walked immediately outside of the arcade to a soda machine that was just at a support pillar mere feet away from the entrance.

"How long have you been here?" Luna asked.

"Ummm…" The kid checked his watch. "About all day."

"It the music and the colors isn't it?" Luna asked.

"… Yeah…" Jaune grimaced as he pressed the button to get a cherry sprunk.

"What are you getting?"

"What I always do." Luna chuckled as he pressed the button to also get a cherry sprunk. "This was always our place when we didn't want to go home." Luna said as he stared back to the arcade.

"Yep. It's much quieter and pleasant then the drab white we stare at every day." Jaune glanced at his watch again. "I don't want to go home."

"You're gonna have to." Luna said before he took a sip of his drink.

"It's not fair! Why does mom always have to be mean to me all the time!?" Jaune looked at the ground.

"This is our sanctuary but like everything else, we still have to deal with life." Luna wrapped the cap to his drink.

"I guess." Jaune finally took a sip of his drink.

"We really love this place." Jaune and Luna spoke in unison.

"Can you answer a question?" Jaune looked up.

"Shoot." Luna shrugged.

"Does it get better?"

"I would love to tell you the truth now… but that would ruin the adventure…" Luna shrugged again. "Just be nice to your sisters and keep going on."

Without much cause, Jaune hugged Luna. Surprised, Luna looked down and nodded. "Just keep a strong heart. I still appreciate you, _Believe_."

"Thank you… for today." Jaune shed a tear.

"Sure thing buddy. I'm you after all." Luna smiled and took off his fedora.

"And I'm you too." Jaune laughed as the fedora was placed on his head.

Jaune was confused again.

"It'll cut out about 5 years of waiting. Just take care of it." Luna cocked his head. "Come on, let's get a couple more games in before we both have to go home."

"YEAH!" Jaune jumped for joy.

 **Author's Note: Hi there, I just request that you please voice your thoughts in a review. My name is Will and it's a pleasure to meet you.**


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